NEW MODE OF LOCOMOTION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 119, 20 May 1879, Page 4

NEW MODE OF LOCOMOTION.

The newspaper carrier who serves papers to the attendants in the Permanent Exhibition Building, Philadelphia, goes his rounds, according to the Scientific American at the rate of twelve miles an hour. He travels on machines not unlike roller-skates which are called pedomotors, according to the inventor, J. H. Hobbs, an architect on Walnut-street, above Fifth. The pedomotor consists of four tough, light, wooden wheels, supplied with an outer rim of t tough indiarubber. These wheels are secured to a frame the shape of the loot, which is strapped to the pedal extremities in the usual manner, j Unlike roller Bkates the wheels of these little vehicles are not under, but are placed on each side of the foot, thus giving the wearer, good standing as well as a solid footing. The rear wheels are three inches in diameter, while those in iront are two and a-half inches. This gives the foot a slight incline, and when in motion has much to do in impelling the pedestrian forward. Ex- ! tending from the toe, with a slight curl towards the ground, is a piece of casting, termed the pusher, which is simply ' used in mounting an elevation or steep incline. From the centre of the heel a small brass wheel extends backward, serving as a guide as well as a brake. The whole scarcely turns the scale at a pound weight. In using them no more effort is required than in ordinary walk- | ing. The wearer steps with his regular stride, and is amazed to find himself skimming over the ground so rapidly with so little muscular effort. Mr Hobbs explains the mystery of the rapid movement in this manner: A man, whose stride is 32 inches, will traverse 48 inches, or one half further with the pedomotor. This is because the body is in constant motion. For instance, says he, the traveller starts, and while he raises one foot to step, he continues rapidly onward until that foot is set down and the other raised to make another step. This gives him the momentum, and away he goes over the two miles in the same time required to to accomplish a mile with the feet. No effort of the body ia required for their use, as in skates. The traveller simply puts one toob before the other, and finds himself whizzed along at a lively rate.

On Jan. 31 Herr Zukertort undertook to play, blindfolded twelve members of the County of Dublin Chess Club simultaneously, At three o'clock the Lord Lieutenant and the Duchess of Marlborough arrived and took, their seats at the head of the long table, on which twelve chess boards were arranged, and remained for some time witnessing the game. The Leinster Hal! was pretty well filled with a fashionable audience. The players were ranged down the table, the numbers of their boards being marked in lai ga figures. They were in the following order : — Ne. I, Lord Randolph Churchill; No. 2, Major Creagh; No. 3, lion Mr H. C. Plunketit ; No. 4, Mr Cairns ( champion of Dawson street Chess Club); No. 5, Mr J. B. Pirn; No. 6, Mr Cbaries Lewis; No. 7, Mr Goodhody; No. ,8, Captain Wallace; No. 9, Captain Melhado; No 10, Mr Woolett; No. 11, Mr C. Tuthill; No. 12, Sir John Blunden, Bart. Herr Zukertort sat with his face to the wall in a position which precluded the possibility of his seeing the chess board. He was unprovided with either chess board, marking paper, or any aid to his memory. He played alternately black and white, and began each second game. Lord Randolph Churchill opened the ball. The mode of playing was as follows: -A gentleman walked round the table, calling out at each board its number and the move made by the player ; then Herr Zukertort called a move and the player executed it. During the eight hoi'rs tho play continued Herr Zukertoi £ never once forgot the position of his own twelve games or those of his adversaries, and never, with one exception made a false move. Once, indeed, at No. 2 board, he fell into an eiror, believing that the assistant had called No. 3 ; the occupant of No. 2 board held him, by the rule of the game, to the move. Once Sir Johu Blunden believed that Herr Znkertorfc had made a false move or made the same move twice, and Herr Zukertort at once, to the amazement of the audience, rehearsed the whole game from the beginning. He frequently corrected the players, who had, of course, the advantage of seeing the play and attending but to one game. Tho play continued from 3 o'clock until 6.15 o'clock, when the games were adjourned till 7 o'clock. At that hour Herr Zukertort took up the pfay, and at 820 beat Mr Charles Lewis. At 10.20 Sir John Blunden proposed a draw, which was accepted. Messrs Plunkett and Pirn also proposed a draw, but Herr Zukertort desired to continue the games. At 11.20 Messrs Pirn, Tuthill, Goodbody, Cairns, Major Creagh, and Captain Melhado adjourned till the next day. Lord Handolph Churchill, Mr

riunkett, Captain Wellace, and Mr Woolett preferred to continue. At a quarter to 12 ' o clock Mr Wcoiett won the first game. At 12.15 Captain Wallace retired, and was followed by Lord Randolph Churchill and Mr riunkett at 12.22. Herr Zukertoit thus won four games, drew one, lost one, and left six to be played out the next day. \ A Kieflc correspondent of the St. Petersburg Journal gives the following account of the outbreak among the political prisoners last month. The persona under arrest in Ivieff prison resolved some time ago to tunnel under the walls and escape. The scheme was betrayed by one of the conspirators. The authorities allowed the prisoners to continue the excavation. When the tunnel was completed, and the prisoners had entered it, one after the other, intending to come up through an opening beyond the prison precincts, soldiers, previously posted at the opening, shot the escaping prisoners as they came up. When the bulk of the prisoners, terrified by the noise of the firing, stopped and remained in the tunnel, soldiers were sent in from behind, and the unfortunate wretches, caught between two fires, were all shot down. The proceeding seemed to give the officials much amusement, and the director of K ; eff Prison was then praised and decorated for having acted with snch.cleverness and decision." The correspondent adds: — " Quite in keeping with this is the statement published by the Russian Chaplain in the Central Prison at Charkoff, in the official Eparlial Wedomosti, as diocesan intelligence. He declares that out of 500 prisoners detained at that prison, 200 died within four months." Oue of the heaviest charges made by the Nihilists against the Russian official administration was brutal treatment of prisoners, in consequence of which the health of most of them has broken down, mauy dying and some being driven mad. It is difficult to say what constitutes the beauty of a woman. The Sandwich Islanders estimate women by their height. The Chiuese require them to have deformed feet and back teeth. A girl must be tattooed sky-blue and wear a nose-ring to satisfy a South-sea Islander's taste. African princes require their brides to have their teeth filed like those of a saw. And thus goes the world, the criterion of beauty differing according to latitude and longitude. In the colony there are 27 fire brigades, having 94 officers and 681 men. Wellington baa by far tbe most members — 80, aa against 55 at the Thames, which is the second on the list, 53 at Nelson, and 37 in Christchurch.

"Der ain't no nigger on the top side of creation," said a coloured man the other day, putting his band—to his bandaged head, "\vhat can sing a hymn and put de gear dn a kick'n' mule at the same time." " ; ' Save yourselves. The time has come j when it behavesall sensible. people who may be suffering the tortures of Rheumatism, Gout, Sciatica, Neuralgia, Lumbago, Liv-^r i Complaints, Biliousness, &c, not to allojv themselves to be trifled witb, and the cure of their maladies delayed. All these conji- . plaints can be speedily and effectually removed by the use of those never-failing remedies, " Gno__A_.'s Great Indian Cures." They can be had of all Chemists, and obtain from them the testimonials given by well-known Colonists who have been cured of long standing. disease. j